seoulmates
by goddessfullmoon
Summary: athrun zala is soccer team captain and school hearthrob will cagalli confess her true feeling to his brother bestfriend
1. Chapter 1

Alternate Universe: Story Setting and Characters.

**Chapter one**

_1 If there's love, there's you and me._

It's six in the evening and our little lady is tutoring her schoolmates. Scratch that, she's tutoring the popular girls in school. Well the saying, "Beauty and Brains" is somehow not appropriate to them. Heck, the three of them are all pretty and snotty but brains? I don't think so. Their brains are like those of green peas. So small. The truth does hurt sometimes.

As for Cagalli? She's one of the smartest in her batch. Physical appearance? She's a natural beauty although she needs a lot of polishing in wearing clothes. Have you seen those movies wherei n the heroin is smart and wears eyeglasses and her hair in braids? Cagalli Yula Athha is duh, not one of them. She's not that into make-up and too-girlish clothes. She'd rather wear denim jeans, white tank tops and flip flops. Oh and her hair in headbands. Imagine her - a simple smart girl. Isn't she the cutest?

"Ms. Ramuis, this is not the correct answer." Cagalli tries to get her attention.

What do popular girls often do? One, hair. Two, nails. Three, magazines. Four, social life. Five, oh yeah, boys. And right now? They're doing Popular-Girls'-Daily-Talk Number 05.

"I agree! Athrun zala is so H-O-T! and he are soooo compatible!" meyrin screamed out her lungs.

Popular Girls' voices are so deafening. If there would be a champagne glass beside them, it would have definitely been broken into pieces.

"Football players are the image of H-O-T!" Another girl expressed her hot opinion in the same high-pitch voice. "Have you seen athrun zala and kira yamato play last week?"

"OMG meer campbell! He's like super cool that day! I almost want to kiss the ground where they was standing!" A shoulder-length-haired girl shrieked. Well from her name plate, she's .meyrin hawke

"Ms. ramuis!" cagalli shouted at them. In what way could such a timid girl get the attention of the talkative girls?

"cagalli we're not deaf you know." lunamaria said.

"Sorry. I just wanted to tell you that your answer in item 01 is wrong and so are items 02, 03, 04, 05 -" cagallil was cut in her sentence when So Ra dismissed her with her hand.

"Who cares getting the right answer? Why do we even have to take tutorials? And not to mention, cagalli hibiki as the tutor. What's wrong with the world?" lunamaria continued curling her lashes.

"It's because you failed the exams twice. And Ms. gladys is helping you through tutorials." With that being said, all three girls gave her a menacing glare which made cagalli gulp.

"This is boring. I'd be in a club right now dancing with boys from other schools if not for you, Cagalli." meer pointed at her with her last words.

"But this is not my fault. Please listen to me when I explain where you got it wrong and I'm sure you'll pass the exam tomorrow." cagalli persuaded them.

"You know cagalli, we don't need your help to pass the exam tomorrow. I'm sure we'll do just fine. Right, girls?" meyrin told her in a very girlish manner.

"Yeah!" The other two synchronized with their reply.

"Let's go girls. We're wasting our time here." meyrin stood up from her seat and looked dirtily at cagalli. "Where were we? Oh yeah, athrun zala!"

And there the popular dim-witted girls went out their way back to their more-scream; more-make-up; more-nail polishes; more magazines; more boys world.

"Aathrun Zala..." cagalli sighed.

After that let's-not-waste-our-time-here-with-Cagalli, our little cute girl went upstairs to her bedroom. She slumped down to her chair-desk and found her grade-three artwork interesting. Snapping her back from her embarrassing artwork, her phone rang.

"hello?" calli greeted the caller.

"Hey calli! It's me milly!"

"Oh, milly. Why did you call?"

"Well, I was going to ask you about your day with P-girls. So how was it?"

"It's terrific!"

"That horrible?"

"Yeah, I can't see why they're so hard to get along with."

"That's who the P-girls are. You didn't think of going along with them, right? That would be wishing for the impossible."

"No, it's not like that. I just hope they would focus to the lessons. Tomorrow would be their third time failing the exam."

"You're very sure they'll fail it?" milly laughed hysterically. "That would be no wonder. I don't blame them."

"Yah miriallia haww! That's quite going overboard." Calli giggled like a girl caught eating cookies with her best friend.

"So then, if they didn't study what did they do?"

"Well, they talked about boys the whole time. They talked about my brother kira and..."

"And?" milly asked urging her to continue.

"And athrun zala calli trailed off with the words.

" ultimate-hot-soccer-captain?" milly almost puked with the term the student body uses.

"Yeah..." calli sighed once again tonight.

"athrun zala: Calli long time crush since first year high school."

"Yah! milly! You don't need to put it that way!" calli wholeheartedly laughed at her best friend's statement.

"It's the ugly truth!"

"Ugly truth?"

"Crushing on athrun zala is a bad-bad thing, Ga Eul. That would be wishing for the sun to rise on the west."

"What do you mean, milly?"

"It's impossible. I'm 99.99% sure he wouldn't look at average girls like us. Don't get me wrong, calli. But that's what I think. He's a far-fetched dream. You do understand me, right?"

"Of course, I understand you. But it's not a bad thing to just like him a little."

"A _little_? Or do you mean a _lot_?" milly giggled.

"The latter." calli laughed at her own remarks.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

_My hearts go doki-doki when you're around. _

It's a new day - with the night's dew still present this morning. cagallil woke up earlier than usual. She took a hot bath, wore her school uniform and fixed her bag. After doing so, she went downstairs and greeted her parents a wonderful morning. They have pancakes and apple juice for breakfast. After that scrumptious meal, cagalli brushed her teeth and fixed her hair in a loose bun with strands of hair cascading her face.

She bid her parents and her little sister goodbye and headed off to her school with her bike. After arriving at her school, she went directly to the left wing to park her bicycle where students' cars and other bicycles were parked. And when she footed her bike she took her bag from the basket and looked at her watch. She's about fifteen minutes early.

She walked through the open-walk towards the middle stairs when one of the cars' doors opened only to reveal the school's ultimate crush, Athrun Zala. Cagalli's tiny heart began to beat fast which almost hammered its way out of her chest. Is that normal? Seeing him would mean that that's normal. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach and she didn't know what to do. Should she approach him and say good morning? That would make her 'feeling close.' Should she smile, then? That would make her look like a maniac.

With her brain battling what to do, her body just moved on its own and slightly bowed towards his direction. And that earned her a nod. After the very second he gestured a small nod, cagalli quickly fastened her strides. When she has set foot on the school building, she ran her way upstairs and went inside her classroom on the third floor. She took her seat near the window which overlooks the soccer field - just the perfect view to stare at Athrun Zala playing. Geez.

cagalli inhaled to normalize her heart's beating. Oh, in how many ways athrun could make her heart abnormal. The morning classes flew by fast and it's now lunch break. Her classmates already went downstairs to have lunch at the cafeteria. Now she and her best friend milly were left coupled with average students just like them who couldn't afford a high-class meal.

After eating their packed lunch, the two best friends went out their room to breathe some fresh air in the school garden which was bordering the Soccer Field. When they arrived at the garden they sat at one of the wooden benches. They talked about their previous classes' lesson and some hobbies they shared. milly saw the people she wouldn't want to see and told calli that they'd better go back. When they passed by them, two girls held them back by their wrists. And the other girl who was in the middle walked close to them and scoffed.

"Yah, cagalli hibiki! Kneel down to us and beg for our forgiveness." Meer campbell commanded her.

"What? What did cagalli do?" miriallia tried to hold back her resentment towards these P-girls.

"Because of your homely best friend, we failed the exam. So it's only right for her to kneel down before us." meyrin cut in.

"I told you last night. If you would just listen to the lessons you wouldn't fail the exam. It's not my fault you received a failing mark." cagalli defended herself but in a calm manner than miriallia.

"You dare? It's your entire fault! You are such a stupid girl! Because of you we were dropped from the subject! Kneel now!" lunamaria shouted at her.

"I won't." cagalli said.

"Kneel now before we change our mind." meer walked closer and towered her.

"I told you, I won't kneel." cagalli looked up at her and battled meer eyes.

"Yah!" meer strongly pushed her.

cagalli lost her balance and waited for her to hit the ground but it didn't come. She looked at the hands holding both her arms. When she looked up at the person who held her, her heart began to race again - now even faster, almost Olympic-speed. Her lips dried. Her eyes blinked. Her breath caught.

"Aren't you past your age from pushing people?" The person who held cagalli by her arms helped her to her feet.

"Ath-Athrun-sama" So Ra uttered the name.

"That girl is a bitch! She purposely made us fail the make-up exams! You should tell her off and not meer!" lunamaria bravely defended her friend.

"She's not a bitch. I'd agree if you refer to yourselves. I believe that's she not the reason you failed the exam. You, three, were just busy talking non-stop about non-sense things. Cagalli hibiki is an intelligent student and it's impossible for the students she tutors to fail. Am I right, miriallia?" athrun zala looked at milly to gain a response.

"Y-Yes! YES! You're right!" milly glared at the three. "She's definitely not a bitch! She's my best friend! If you lay your hands on her I swear I'll kick your plastic-surgery-faces! AND HELL SHE'S PRETTY!"

"Aren't you going your way now?" Athrun Zala gestured backwards.

The three of them shuffled to their feet. One of them clicked her tongue. The other rolled her eyes and meer hissed to cagalli as she passed her by. "I'll get back at you."

When the three was out of sight, athrun zala turned to her and asked, "Are you alright?"

Cagalli was still in another world when miriallia nudged her. "Ah, Y-yes. I'm okay."

Miriallia slightly bowed to him to show her gratitude for helping them out but she's sure she could have handled them with her infamous spin-kick. "Thank you for helping us, Athrun Zala-sama."

"Thank you, too." Cagalli bowed to him the second time today.

"Don't mention it. Well, I'll be on my way to soccer practice. It's nice... talking to you." Athrun shifted to his right foot but stopped when cagalli opened her mouth to speak.

"P-Please do your best." She tried hard not to stutter but kind of failed.

"Thanks." And there goes the Hot Athrun Zala

Athrun jogged his way towards the field and left the two girls there standing beside each other.

"Things were going smoothly and you have your way ruining it,cagalli." Mirillia commented.

"Eh?"

"Way to go stuttering, I meant." Milly laughed and earned a playful punch from cagalli.

It's afternoon already and that means it's class-dismissed. Most students already left excited to go home while others had club activities. As for milly and cagalli, they have a short errand to do. And that was tending the flowers in the school garden. There was no gardening club they just felt taking care of the beautiful flowers and green plants. Call them nature-lovers. The administration doesn't have a word about it but words of gratitude.

"milly..." cagalli looked beside her while putting fertilizer on the soil with a little help from a small shovel.

"Hm? What is it calli?" milly asked without taking her eyes off the plants she was watering.

"Aboutathrun...-sama." She added the last word hesitantly.

"What about him?" milly turned to her.

"He knew me." cagalli stated.

"And?"

"He said my full name earlier. He _knows_ me." cagalli said in a big-realization-revealed manner.

"Oh. _Oh!_ H-He?" milly dropped the sprinkler.

"Yes! He knew my name! It's not a 99.99% assurance of not knowing me, milly!" cagalli was literally jumping for joy holding her best friend's hands.

"Wow! I didn't realize that. Then... Could that mean...?" milly started after holding cagalli by her shoulders to stop her from her joyous jumps.

"Could mean what?" cagalli's faced distorted with confusion.

"He knows that you exist! More than half of our school's population are females. And from what I have heard, he barely talks to his juniors especially female students. Meaning, you are an exception to that! He has acknowledged your presence here in school! That's a big deal already right?"

"Oh yes! You're totally right. Oh gosh, so many things happened today." Her face colored with red. She's blushing, alright.

"Come here, best friend." Milly motioned her for a hug. "Maybe average girls like us especially you have a chance. But promise me one thing, calli. Don't put too much hope with this one, okay? Issues of the heart are difficult to give solutions to."

"I promise, milly. I won't keep my hopes up." cagalli hugged her friend tighter. "He knowing I exist is already too much."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

_ i gave you a lollypop, and you took my heart with it._

These past few days Cagalli has still been wearing that smile. Milly doesn't say anything because she knows the reason and it can all be summed up to one name: Athrun Zala. Her other non-snob classmates kept pestering her to share to them what happened but cagalli was tight-lipped.

"Ah, cagalli, I won't be hanging around in the garden today. It's my brother's birthday today. I have to buy him a gift." milly said while packing her bag.

"Oh, it's okay. Say happy birthday for me, milly-ah. And that my gift would be delayed." Cagalli wore her backpack bag. "I'm off then. Take care milly."

"Bye! Go home early!" And the two of them headed opposite directions.

As milly went her way to the mall, cagalli headed to the school garden. Without her best friend, the task would add about fifteen minutes more than their usual time. She was having a hard time carrying the water-filled sprinkler. "Aish, where's milly when you need her." cagalli mumbled.

"Is it really that heavy?" A voice a few feet away asked.

"Yes." cagalli replied without looking at the source of the voice.

"Do you need help?" The person asked again.

"Yes, than-" cagalli now turned around and her jaw dropped lower if possible. "athrun-sama..."

"hi." Athrun raised his hand. You know that kind of 'raise-hand' that melts the girls.

"H-Hello." cagalli greeted back and bowed.

"No need to be so polite, cagalli." Athrun approached her. "Hand me the sprinkler."

As cagalli handed over the object, their skin touched for a split second. Their surroundings momentarily stopped. The falling leaves were left suspended in the air. The flowers bent as the wind breezed by. There's no jolting electricity. That's too cliché. Instead, everything stopped as their skin came in contact and their eyes locked.

cagalli broke the gaze and looked somewhere else where she could calm her now racing heart. "Thank you for helping, at-athrun." There she was again - stuttering his name.

"You're welcome. So, how should I do this?" athrun gestured to the sprinkler.

"You can water the plants but please not too much or they'll drown." cagalli instructed him. athrun then burst into soft laughter. And cagalli abruptly looked at him.

"The way you said that they'll drown. It's priceless." athrun burst again in laughter.

"It's not funny..." cagalli pouted and just stared at the plants in front of her.

"You're just too cute, cagalli." athrun said and turned around to water the plants.

_Five. Four. Three. Two. One. __BEEP!_ His words had just dawned on athrun. _He said I was cute. C-Cute?_ She felt her face flushed.

They spent the first couple of minutes watering the plants until cagalli broke the on-going silence.

"athrun..." cagalli started. Good going there girl - no stutters at all.

"Yes?" athrun turned around to face her.

"You have soccer practice right?"

"Nope. Coach told us to have the day off." He replied as he finished with watering the plants.

"Eh? You have the day off? Then... Then, you're not supposed to be helping me here." cagalli fidgeted with her fingers looking at him. Quite the nervous girl she is right now. Duh, she's all alone with her long time crush.

"Why shouldn't I? You need help and I'm lending you a helping hand. Would you rather get rid of me then?" athrun smirked at her.

"N-No! It's not that... sports gives you the aches and I was just worried you'd ache more by helping me here..." cagalli trailed off embarrassed by sounding too eager to have him stay.

"This is nothing compared to the practice coach gives us. You're worried... about me, cagalli?"

"In a senior-junior way... that is." cagalli countered so he wouldn't think of her liking him or anything in line with that.

"Oh." Sounded like he was disappointed. Or are we just looking over things too much? "Well, the deed is done. What's next?"

"I-I think that's it. milly and I just fertilized them so today's only watering." cagalli took his and her bag from one of the benches and handed his over. "Thank you for today, athrun-sama. You've been a great help."

"You're always welcome, cagalli." He shoved his bag on his back and looked at the shy cagalli in front of him. He was quite confused as to why she was rummaging her bag as if looking for something so important.

"Here." cagalli shoved something towards him. "A thank-you gift from me."

"A lollypop?" athrun held it up high as if examining the little sweet candy.

"Y-yes, it's my last one." cagalli shifted in her feet. "And my favorite one..."

"Cherry? So cherry-flavor is your type of candy, cagalli." athrun pocketed the little sweet. "Are you going home then?"

"Eh? Yes, I am." cagalli glanced at her watch. It's still early. It's about the same time she and milly go home.

"I'll walk you then."

"Excuse me?" cagalli asked as if she heard him wrong.

"I'll walk you to the parking was... what I meant." athrun cleared his throat.

"Oh. That's not necessary. athrun-sama."

"I'm heading to the parking as well. You have your bike I have my car. So basically I'd be walking with you, right?"

"Right... That's some good logic." cagalli smiled at him.

Other students were just on their way home - some were in groups happily talking, some were couples holding hands and some were taking their time.

When they arrived at the left wing or otherwise known as the parking space, cagalli walked at the end for the bicycles' space were located there while the cars were on the front. She hopped on the seat, put her bag on the basket and pedalled her bike.

As she was on her way out the school gates, a car honked at her. The driver's side window pulled down and revealed the man of her dreams.

"Thanks for the candy." athrun pulled out the sweet from his pocket. "Take care, cagalli." athrunJ waved her goodbye with his oh-so-heart-melting smile.

That night, cagalli couldn't sleep even for a minute or two. Her eyes were still wide awake and heart couldn't seem to slow down even for a second. Doesn't she give us the perfect image of a girl in love? It's all or nothing, cagalli thought. She reached out for her phone and dialled a number.

"hello? cagalli?"

"Oh, milly-ah."

"Why are you calling? It's late already."

"Something happened today."

W-What? Did you get in an accident? Is auntie and uncle alright? Oh! Don't tell me something happened to Yu Na." A frantic milly blabbered.

"No, no. Nothing happened to them. It's... It's..."

"You do know that you have to put it into words, cagalli."

"ATHRUN."

"Okay, okay you can tell me. What is it?" She gave in to her best friend.

"I'm so happy milly!" calli shrieked but not that loud as to not disturb the people fast asleep. "This afternoon athrun helped me with the garden. The sprinkler was just too heavy for me and then he offered his hand. I wonder how you can carry that. Anyways we talked for a while before he... he accompanied me with my walk towards my bike! Geez. And... And he told me I was cute. Telling you this is embarrassing." cagalli giggled like there was no end.

"That's nice of him. I'm glad for you. It's a good thing then that I wasn't there. How about this calli , I'll go home while you tend the plants and then who knows, he might help you again?"

"Yah, Miriallia Haww! You're just trying to escape!"

"Of course not. I wouldn't exchange the plants we have cared for so many months now."

"Right."

"Yah, are you doubting me?" milly played along with her. "It's been a day for you, huh. I wish you all the best, calli!"

"Thanks. But yesterday you told me not to have high hopes. Why are you giving me such encouraging words, milly-ah?"

"Hm. Maybe, this thing between you and him has a potential to lead to a good ending."

"I hope so, too."


End file.
